The lives of these mothers are replete with talk of problems and needs, as opposed to possibilities and hope. Despite the negative language and tone surrounding them however, the women held high aspirations for their children. Although their education was limited, they expected that their children would finish high school and achieve greater things than they had. One mother, Andrea, recognized her daughter's intelligence and spoke of her going on to become a doctor some day. Another participant spoke of her son's ability to speak well and felt that he would make a good pastor. The parents of another child consider what can be done to increase her chances of success and decide that the purchase of a computer will provide a useful and required tool for her education. To achieve this, they are willing to make sacrifices to enable them to purchase an item considered a necessity by families with greater access to capital.

Thus it became apparent that these parents adhered to discourses of hope that they might be able to secure cultural capital for their children and provide a habitus that promotes the value of higher education.

Discourses of Invasion

For the women in this study, the privacy of their lives and homes was often subject to invasion by agents of public or government authority. Thus these women frequently indicated that their identity was subject to regulation by dynamics that appear out of their control. Feelings of lack of safety and trust pervade their discourses of unwanted house inspections and visits by health care providers, intent on checking to ensure that the mothers were meeting their standards. Through ongoing situations aimed at subordination by housing authorities, these mothers experience the trauma of being being subjected to invasive house inspections because they rely on income assistance without the resources that would allow them to get into training or courses that would help them to find employment.